Welcome to Great Beginnings

Marcel Proust wisely said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” The process of changing perceptions about ADD takes great patience and a willingness to set aside preconceived notions about the way things “should” look. We need to cultivate creative risk takers—not snuff them out or “cure” them. And we must give creative risk takers a chance to learn in their own preferred ways and teach them skills in how to control their impulses and other visible signs of ADD.

Had we “cured” Edison, Mozart, Franklin, Einstein, Churchill, Hemingway, Emerson, and the many other talented creative risk takers, how much poorer our world would be. Aren’t our new creative risk takers worth the effort of providing nonintrusive interventions, loving and child-centered homes, and engaging and project-oriented interactive schools? When we give the world our best and encourage the potential in others, we get the best returned to us. This takes courage. We must have the courage and insight to change if we are to grow. The biggest challenge for parents and teachers is to remove the roadblocks that keep these children’s gifts from being recognized, celebrated, and nurtured."

Every child enters the world with unique capabilities and aptitudes. When these abilities are properly nourished, the child can easily contribute to the advancement of our world. Society has adapted a rather limited view on intelligence and learning. People who have a different perception of the world from ours are often dismissed as disordered yet these individuals can have interesting and often valuable lessons to teach us. When we seek to understand our differences, they can help us expand our experience of life in enriching ways that may not otherwise have been possible to us.

John F. Kennedy said on June 28, 1963 in his Dublin, Ireland address, "The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were." These children are the head in the clouds visionaries who dream things that never were and assist us to manifest them in the world. Let us celebrate the gifts they bring!